And outside the Capitol, the top Republican leaders, including Chief Deputy Whip Peter Roskam (R-Ill.) engaged in a PR campaign to win over conservative interest groups and opinion-makers.

The Republican leadership trio has privately reached out to conservative TV personalities like Sean Hannity and Brit Hume, and Wall Street Journal editorial page editor Paul Gigot, National Review’s Kate O’Beirne, Stephen Hayes of The Weekly Standard, David Brooks of The New York Times, George Will, Laura Ingraham, Mark Levin, and groups such as The Heritage Foundation, among others, have all heard from Republican leadership. And even former House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Texas), the chairman of FreedomWorks and a tea party favorite, got a call from GOP leaders.

We speculated yesterday that former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty could be the first of the 2012 White House hopefuls to abandon his candidacy, now that the campaign’s halycon early days have given way to riding around Ames, Iowa in an RV, trying to get his name out there in a state where he’s already spent $437,000 advertising.

In a new National Review article posted today, Pawlenty spokesman Alex Conant didn’t do much to alleviate our sinking feeling when asked about the campaign’s goals heading into August’s pivotal Ames Straw Poll. Said Conant, “We want to show progress (?) in Ames, [do] better than sixth or seventh.”

He was probably just trying to manage expectations, but sixth or seventh? Say fourth. Or fifth!

Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman aren’t even going to be there.

Pawlenty may not be able to beat Michele Bachmann, but surely he can out-perform Rick Santorum and the mere suggestion of Rick Perry.

There aren’t many positive aspects to the looming possibility of a U.S. debt default. But there has been, I have to admit, an element of comic relief – of the black-humor variety – in the spectacle of so many people who have been in denial suddenly waking up and smelling the crazy.

A number of commentators seem shocked at how unreasonable Republicans are being. “Has the G.O.P. gone insane?” they ask.

Why, yes, it has.

But this isn’t something that just happened, it’s the culmination of a process that has been going on for decades. Anyone surprised by the extremism and irresponsibility now on display either hasn’t been paying attention, or has been deliberately turning a blind eye.

And may I say to those suddenly agonizing over the mental health of one of our two major parties: People like YOU bear some responsibility for that party’s current state.

~~~

~~~

Here’s the point: those within the G.O.P. who had misgivings about the embrace of tax-cut fanaticism might have made a stronger stand if there had been any indication that such fanaticism came with a price, if outsiders had been willing to condemn those who took irresponsible positions.

But there has been no such price. Mr. Bush squandered the surplus of the late Clinton years, yet prominent pundits pretend that the two parties share equal blame for our debt problems.

Paul Ryan, the chairman of the House Budget Committee, proposed a supposed deficit-reduction plan that included huge tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy, then received an award for fiscal responsibility.

So there has been no pressure on the G.O.P. to show any kind of responsibility, or even rationality – and sure enough, it has gone off the deep end.

DES MOINES, IA – In what political insiders are calling one of the weirdest campaign gaffes in history, Republican presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty SHAVED EVERY SINGLE HAIR off his body this weekend while campaigning in Iowa.

The bizarre misstep by the former Minnesota governor, who is currently in the midst of a nine-city speaking tour across the crucial early-primary state, has left media pundits and political strategists baffled, with all of them agreeing that shearing the hair from his head, face, arms, legs, and torso has jeopardized Pawlenty’s bid for the presidency.

“This was a massive and, frankly, confusing miscalculation by Gov. Pawlenty,” Republican campaign strategist Matthew Dowd said. “Every candidate attempts to distinguish himself from the field and gain an edge with voters, and unfortunately for the governor, he seems to have come to the conclusion that shaving every inch of himself clean and leaving his body bald and smooth all over would help him better connect with Americans. I just really don’t think he thought this one through.”

“Pawlenty’s Tax Cut For The Richest 0.1 Percent Would be FOUT TIMES As Large As Bush’s”

The economic plan unveiled last week by 2012 GOP presidential hopeful Tim Pawlenty included
$7.8 trillion in tax cuts, on top of the $2.5 trillion cost of continuing to extend the Bush tax cuts for the next ten years. His tax plan would mean a 41 percent tax cut for millionaires, even as it CAUSED the DEFIICIT and DEBT to EXPLODE.

According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, the plan would be really great for the richest one tenth of one percent of Americans, delivering them a tax cut four times as large as the Bush tax cuts:

Specifically, in 2013 the Pawlenty plan would give people in the top one-tenth of 1 percent on the income scale (i.e., people with incomes above $2.7 million) an average annual tax cut of $1.8 million — which is more than four times what they got last year from the Bush tax cuts.

GOP White House hopeful Tim Pawlenty (see photo) is scoffing at claims that he’s too “nice” and too “bland” to take the political fight to President Barack Obama.

Fox News Channel’s Bill O’Reilly said last week that Pawlenty (see photo) was “invisible” and that “Haagen Dazs could put his picture on vanilla.”

During an appearance on this weekend’s edition of “Fox News Sunday,” Pawlenty (see photo) asked host Chris Wallace if O’Reilly really used the word ‘vanilla’ to describe his persona. After Wallace confirmed the word choice, the presidential candidate joked, “Is he playing the race card on me?”

Wallace replied, “I don’t think so sir. I think he’s just talking about the taste, not the color.”

Nearly four in ten Republicans and those who lean toward Republicans said they were unhappy with their current choices in the presidential field, according to a new Washington Post/Pew Research Center poll, data that will fuel speculation about possible late entrants into the race.

Asked to choose a single word to describe the Republican slate of candidates, fully 37 percent of self identified Republicans and Republican leaners chose a word with a negative connotation — with “not impressed/unimpressed” the most commonly mentioned phrase.

Among all respondents, 44 percent offered a negative one-word assessment of the Republican field including, not suprisingly, 52 percent of Democrats.

More potentially problematic for Republicans hoping to unseat President Obama next November was the fact that 48 percent of INDEPENDENTS described the GOP candidates negatively while just 10 percent offered a positive one-word description.